Why doesn't Perl allow one liners to be 'unblocked'?

Question

for example:

if (something)
    function();
else
    nope();

Answer 1

They can be:

$something ? function() : nope();

Update: More generally, it's because, as Jonathan points out, Larry says so. There are other cases that the curly brace syntax can be thrown out:

function() if $something;

nope() foreach @foo;

function() while <FH>;

Or even:

function() and nope() if $something;

Answer 2

usually you would use the conditional operator:

something ? function() : nope;

Answer 3

you mean like something ? function() : nope(); ?

Answer 4

It depends on what you mean by "why?".

The first turtle on the way down is that Perl control structures are defined in terms of BLOCKs, and not in terms of statements (as in C). And a BLOCK in Perl is delimited by curlies.

The next turtle on the way down would be Larry Wall's feelings about why BLOCKs belong there instead of statements!

Answer 5

Because Perl always requires braces around blocks - which simplifies its grammar a bit.

You always have to write:

if (something) { function(); } else { nope(); }

Or use a conditional operator as others have suggested.

Answer 6

If you don't need the else, you can make a one-liner using if or unless at the end of a line.

For example:

function() if (something);

or

function() unless (something);